On Tuesday, 10th of May, Combined Honours Student Staff Committee hosted their first ever “Taste of Culture” event on campus, aimed at helping international students to integrate into the local community while bringing people together to share food and culture.
“The idea is that everyone come along with some food, maybe something from their country or region, and we all come together to eat!
It is a great way to meet new people and learn about different cultures in a relaxed environment”, told Rachel, first year French and Psychology, to The Courier.
According to the organisers’ words, the event welcomed a diverse public of around 30 students from many different degree stages and disciplines, with many of them actually bringing national meals and dishes from their home countries, and will be aiming to encourage even more to come next time.
“The event was a first attempt at what is believed to become an annual event promoting sense of inclusion”
“We had Bulgarian filo cheese pie, German caramelised nut biscuits and English apple and berry crumble to name just a few foods and countries that were represented”, said Rachel.
“I think everyone really enjoyed the event, we ended up playing games, put some music on and I think everyone met someone new, which is the whole point!”, she added.
As referred to Rachel, the event was a first attempt at what is believed to become an annual event, promoting sense of inclusion among international students on campus.
The idea for “Taste of Culture” event came from members of the Combined Honours Student Staff Committee, which meets several times a year to look into the problems experienced by different groups of students and try and come up with solutions to improve their university experience.
“It was the Student Staff Committee of our degree that was really the driving force behind the event, and the feedback we got will go towards setting up an annual or biannual event, to take place at the beginning of each term”, Rachel explains.
“This time it took us a couple of weeks to organise the event, to advertise it, buy in a few supplies and cook.
Hopefully, when we come to do the next one at the beginning of the next academic year, we will be very well organised”, she added.
“Many thanks to Rachel for the amazingly organized event and her hard work; we all had lots of fun and great food!”, said Fanni, the event’s attendee.
